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Manzume 37 — Niçeler bu cihâna geldi gitdi

Amasya05 Editorial Board • Editor: Mevlüt Erdem Öztürk • 01 October 2026 • Updated: 14 October 2026 • 2 min reading

Akça Koca and Konur Alp die, İzmit surrenders and Kocaeli, Konrapa and Bolu are won; the chapter ends with three couplets addressed to those who say "mine".

Contents 4

1Original Ottoman Turkish Text
2In English
3Literary and Historical Commentary
4Bibliography

Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Niçeler bu cihâna geldi gitdi
Benüm didi yalan da'vîler itdi

Unuduldı adı añılmaz oldı
Yirini bir dahı yalançı tutdı

Sakın benüm diyüben da'vî itme
Ki magrûr 'âkıbet peşîman gitdi

In English

1. Many have come into this world and gone; they said "mine" and took up false claims.

2. Their names were forgotten, no longer mentioned; another liar took their place.

3. Take care not to lay claim saying "mine"; for the proud man departed regretful in the end.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The Surrender of İzmit

The first years of Orhan's reign are told in the thirtieth chapter: Akça Koca and Konur Alp die, and İznikmid (İzmit) is besieged. The town is ruled by a lady; an agreement is reached: the lady will take whatever she owns and leave, and hand over the fortress. She asks to leave at night and stipulates that she be protected from the Turks; any infidel who wishes may go, any who wishes may stay. Ships are brought to the quay and the goods loaded; Orhan says, "Take care that not a straw of these infidels' goods goes missing, for we are not traitors to our pact." He then enters the fortress, the gazis of Aydos settle in İzmit, Süleyman Paşa is brought there, and the churches are turned into mosques and one church into a medrese. The coast is given to Karamürsel, the market of Ermen to Yahşılu, Kandıra to Akbaş. The author says that this is "the origin and truth" of the conquest of Kocaeli, Konrapa and Bolu.

Those Who Say "Mine"

With the lands newly shared out, the couplets sound a warning. Owning a place, laying claim and saying "mine", is a short-lived claim: the name is forgotten and another "liar" takes the place. These words come right after a narrative in which a town is taken from a lady and Orhan's own son is installed there, and they balance the victory with a lesson on transience. The sound "-tdi" carries the rhyme: gitdi, itdi, tutdı, itme, gitdi; the first line of the last couplet is unrhymed.